LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lake County Fair has agreed to provide management services to the Dixon May Fair for the period of February through May of 2012.

Dixon May Fair, which is located in the Solano County town of Dixon, is scheduled for May 10-13.

Dixon May Fair has been without a chief executive officer since September of 2011, when the previous CEO left to pursue other opportunities.

Reacting to state budget issues has caused many operational changes at fairgrounds throughout California.

The Dixon May Fair’s board of directors decided not to immediately fill the CEO position, and instead requested an agreement with the Lake County Fair for CEO Richard Persons to provide managerial leadership through Dixon's annual event, Persons reported Monday.

Persons, who has been the CEO at the Lake County Fair since November of 1996, is expected to spend two days per week in Dixon, along with the entire week of the Dixon May Fair.

The agreement specifies a maximum of forty-two days of work between February and the end of May. The total agreement has a value of $27,300 if all 42 days are used.

Dixon May Fair will reimburse the Lake County Fair for 100 percent of Persons’ salary, benefits and retirement for each day he spends in Dixon, and also will pay all travel and other costs associated with the arrangement.

If the arrangement is successful, a longer-term agreement may be possible, which would result in a cost savings to both fairgrounds.

“The timing with Dixon is perfect,” said Persons. “They are hitting the really busy time before the annual fair now, then just as they return to normal after the May Fair, we hit that really busy time in Lakeport starting in June.”

He added, “Besides the obvious financial benefits for each fair, this arrangement also allows me to see how things are done at another fairgrounds, and to help them with my knowledge of what works well here. The two operations are very similar, with nearly identical size fairgrounds and similar sized staffs. Unless the State finds a way to fund the fairground facilities it owns, I think there probably will be more cost sharing arrangements like this in the future.”

Fairgrounds throughout California have made many operational changes to deal with the loss of all state funding.

Payroll is the largest single expense at most fairgrounds, and Lake County Fair issued layoff notices to 50 percent of its full-time staff in February 2011, Persons said. The affected individuals eventually opted to retire, and the fair has left the positions vacant.

Dixon May Fair also has reduced staff at a similar rate, he said.

The Dixon May Fair board of directors approved the agreement on Wednesday, Feb. 8, and the Lake County Fair board of directors gave its approval on Monday, Feb. 13, Persons reported.

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